List of Keyboards
Grand Piano by Hannsen, C
This grand piano was made by Carl Hannsen in Bamberg, Germany around 1805. This is the only known instrument by this maker, who advertised himself as “Instrument and Organ Maker in Bamberg.” This piano is serial number 37 and has a compass of FF-c4, Viennese action (dampers missing), leather hammers, brass and iron strings, double-strung, 3 knee levers: Janissary (?, stop missing), dampers, and buff or moderator, wood frame, straight-strung, and a veneered case
Credit: Smithsonian
Square Piano by Hallet, Davis & Co
Compass: CC-c5
Three pedals: left- moderator; middle and right both raise dampers (possibly originally arranged so that the middle pedal raised only the bass dampers; cloth is presumably missing from rail under damper cranks, so the exact functions cannot be determined with certainty).
Naturals covered with ivory with rounded fronts; sharps ebony.
Action: English-grand type.
Clavicytherium by Hake, H
The instrument is effectively an open framed harp, and at one stage the keyboard and action were removed in an attempt to make it into a proper harp. There are forty-five tuning pins, which VdM suggests indicates a compass of C/E–c3. Three roses of geometrical pattern. Painted exterior.
Riga was part of Sweden at the time the instrument was made
Foto : Sofi Sykfont
Square Piano by Haberacker, J
This square piano was made by John Haberacker in Reading, Pennsylvania around 1818-1822. Little is known of this piano maker except that he was part of an active group of Reading builders giving competition to Philadelphia, which in the late 1820s was still the leading piano manufacturing city in the nation. This piano has a compass of FF-f3, a double action without escapement, leather hammers, double-strings throughout with tuning pins on the right, 1 pedal: dampers (attached to a center post), and a wood frame. The case veneer is crotch-figured mahogany
Credit: Smithsonian